After nearly 5 months of work the thinning programme for 2018 - 19 will come to an end in mid March. A local contractor will be in the woods re-grading the track from Green Gate car park to the Sawmill yard area as soon as conditions are right.
On Saturday 16th March from 10am we will be holding another volunteers event, meeting at the Sawmill Yard site. All welcome, but please come with strong footwear as conditions are wet and muddy and also bring a pair of gardening gloves or similar.
This week the Scarborough News published an article about the thinning work and we understand the concerns from woodland users. As woodland users ourselves we do not like the upheaval and appearance but as said in the newspaper article, the short term disruption will create a much healthier woodland. The thinning will bring about greater diversity in the wildlife and a woodland that is almost all native trees and very few larch.
Already in the area above Raincliffe Gate you can see the hazels growing and in other areas beech have been very successful in self seeding. We are going to lift some of these self sown and replant elsewhere as they have already survived on their own and not been nibbled back by the deer. Although deer are a known problem it is very interesting to see how many trees have survived and are now 4 to 5 feet tall.
Our last area to be thinned is directly up from Newgate car park to the Middle Ride track. This has a very poor woodland floor and a dense planting as the pictures show. To the west of this stand of trees there is a stand thinned in 2016 and already the level of light and plant growth is very noticeable. 
Once we have completed the thinning programme we will be presenting our income and expenditure to our members at the April AGM and explaining where the surplus will be re invested in the woodland and how much will be retained to put towards projects that require match funding.
At the AGM members will be able to put forward their own ideas about where investment could be targeted.
Our work is very transparent and there is no secrecy. We are very happy to talk about our ambitions for the woodland and the work we are undertaking.
Map showing the area to be thinned above Newgate car park.
